Team USA Weekend Wrap-Up: Jan. 28, 2013

Lindsey Vonn on her way to taking first place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women's giant slalom on January 26, 2013 in Maribor, Slovenia.SKIING
Alpine: Lindsey Vonn produced her 59th career Alpine World Cup victory with a giant slalom win Sunday in Maribor, Slovenia. Vonn, who has also won three downhill and two super-G titles this season, moved within three of the women’s win record held by Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Proell. On Sunday Vonn overcame World Cup overall and giant slalom leader Tina Maze, who finished second on her home snow.

“I had not skied a giant slalom for a month,” said Vonn, who was slowed by an illness earlier this season. “I was hoping for a good result, but not to win, but this course perfectly suits my style.”

Mikaela Shiffrin, a 17-year-old, held her lead in the slalom points race with an eighth-place finish Sunday. Vonn is third in the points standings.

Ted Ligety placed sixth Saturday in the super-G in Kitzbuehel, Austria to remain third in the Alpine World Cup overall standings.

The Alpine World Ski Championships begin next week in Schladming, Austria.

Freestyle: Eliza Outtrim reached the podium for the first time in this World Cup season with a third-place moguls finish Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Olympic champion Hannah Kearney finished fifth.

Nordic Combined: Bryan Fletcher finished eighth Sunday in the penalty format in the World Cup event in Klingenthal, Germany.

SNOWBOARDINGOlympic champions Shaun White and Kelly Clark added to their list of Winter X Games superpipe titles in Aspen, Colo. White won his sixth straight and eighth overall title Sunday.

“Shaun continues to dominate and amaze us all and the athlete’s bag of tricks is moving in an amazing direction,” U.S. snowboarding coach Mike Jankowski said.

Clark led a U.S. sweep in the women’s superpipe, rallying to finish ahead of Elena Hight and Arielle Gold.

Jamie Anderson won her fourth slopestyle title while Chas Guldemond was fourth in men’s slopestyle.

BOBSLED AND SKELETONNoelle Pikus-Pace led the way Sunday as the United States repeated its title in the team event at the Bobsled and Skeleton World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Pikus-Pace’s time of 1:08.92 was the fastest by 0.84 seconds in the women’s skeleton and helped the United States compile a time of 4:31.29 while winning by 0.24 seconds.

“I feel incredible,” Pikus-Pace said.

“I think she beat most of the guys,” said John Daly, who finished the men’s skeleton in 1:08.61 to put the United States in seventh place early. “I’m glad I don’t have to race against her this weekend.”

Elena Meyers and Lolo Jones, a two-time Olympic hurdler, handled the women’s bobsled run in 1:07.76 to move the team up to fourth place.

After Pikus-Pace put the United States ahead, Steven Holcomb and Curt Tomasevicz held the lead with a 1:06.00 finish in the men’s bobsled portion of the relay.

The United States also fared well in the individual events. Meyers and Katie Eberling earned a silver medal Saturday in the women’s bobsled.

Holcomb and Steve Langton fell 0.08 seconds short of a medal with a fourth-place finish in the two-man bobsled.

The men’s and women’s skeleton and men’s four-man bobsled competition are still to come as the World Championships continue through Saturday.

SPEEDSKATINGHeather Richardson won the women’s overall title at the World Sprint Championships after taking the gold medal in the 1,000 meters Sunday.

Richardson also had two bronze medals at the competition, which featured 500- and 1,000-meter races each day, Saturday and Sunday. Richardson was third in both races Saturday. Brittany Bowe was second in Saturday’s 1,000.

Mitch Whitmore set personal bests Saturday in both races while finishing 15th twice.

FIGURE SKATINGDespite two falls in her free skate on Saturday, Ashley Wagner became the first woman to repeat as U.S. champion since Michelle Kwan in 2005 with her performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Saturday in Omaha, Neb.

Up-and-comer Gracie Gold climbed all the way from ninth to second in her free program, but she was unable to catch the defending champion. Agnes Zawadzki took the bronze medal for the second straight year.

The championships concluded Sunday with Max Aaron taking the men’s title with a free skate that included a pair of quad Salchows and two triple Axels. Ross Miner moved up a spot to second after finishing third the last two years. Defending champion Jeremy Abbott was third.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their fifth straight ice dancing title, matching the record for the event. In pairs, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir won the title.

Following the championships, U.S. Figure Skating named its selections for the World Figure Skating Championships, which begin March 11 in London, Ont.

Wagner, Gold, Aaron, Miner, Castelli-Shnapir, and Davis-White all made the world team, as did the pairs team of Caydee Denney-John Coughlin plus the ice dancing teams of Madison Chock-Evan Bates and Maia Shibutani-Alex Shibutani. Denney and Coughlin did not compete in Omaha as he recovers from hip surgery. They won the 2012 national title.

Alternates for the World Championships, as well as the competitors and alternates for the Four Continents Championships and World Junior Championships, were also named. The complete selections are available here.

SLED HOCKEYDaniel McCoy scored two goals as the United States defeated South Korea, 5-2, Saturday night in Indian Trail, N.C. to win the title in the first USA Hockey Sled Cup.

TENNISBrothers Bob and Mike Bryan, the gold medalists at the London 2012 Olympic Games, won their record 13th Grand Slam men’s doubles title Saturday at the Australian Open in Melbourne. It was their sixth Australian Open championship.

The Bryans defeated Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling, 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

“We’ve put our head down every day,” Mike Bryan said. “We just don’t let each other slack off. If one guy is playing a little worse, the other guy is on him. We just don’t let our level drop.”

BIATHLON

Sean Doherty won Sunday's 10-kilometer pursuit with a commanding lead of 28.2 seconds, posting a time of 29:31.0, to become the 2013 IBU youth (under-19) pursuit world champion.

"It feels great to be World Champion. It's amazing and has been a goal of mine," said Doherty. "During the race I felt really good and very in control. I recognized I had a good lead going, which was good since I wasn't feeling superb skiing. I was glad to be in charge of the race from there. I made sure I didn't get ahead of myself and stayed focused on one thing at a time. I was a little bit nervous to start second today, but I had a really good plan and stuck with that and it worked out great. I was glad that I was able to keep a calm head throughout all the shooting.

Doherty also earned silver in Friday's 7.5-kilometer sprint.

WRESTLINGJoe Betterman went 4-0 at 60 kg/132 pounds Saturday and earned Outstanding Wrestler honors among U.S. competitors at the Jack Pinto Cup in Colorado Springs.

The cup featured four U.S. dual meet teams facing Lithuania, Sweden, Kazakhstan and Japan in Greco-Roman. Formerly known as the Kiki Cup, the event was renamed in honor of Pinto, a 6-year-old wrestler who died in the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn.

Simon Fraser used six individual titles to win the team championship at the first Women’s College Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

TRACK AND FIELDDuane Solomon, a 2012 Olympian, ran the fastest 600-meter time ever by an American man when he won the event in the Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland. Solomon was one of four winners for the United States, which lost a tiebreaker with Russia and finished second in the team standings.

Solomon finished in 1:15.70 to erase the record of 1:15.80, set by Chip Jenkins in 1987. Americans Kind Butler (men’s 200), Natasha Hastings (women’s 400) and Bernard Lagat (men’s 3,000) also won.

Elsewhere, the United States won the men’s team title at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Jamaica where Craig Forys won the senior men’s 8k title. Erin Finn won the junior women’s 4k race.

Etc.
TRIATHLON: Landon Beckner and Julie Zickovich won the overall titles Sunday at the USA Triathlon Winter Triathlon National Championships in Butte, Mont. Beckner finished the 5-kilometer run, 10-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer Nordic ski in 1:07:38. Titles were also awarded in 14 age groups.

CURLING: Margie Smith’s rink from Minnesota went undefeated to win the women’s title at the USA Curling Senior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. Smith and teammates Norma O’Leary, Debbie Dexter, Shelly Kosal and Lucy DeVore won despite being in an accident before the first match in Alaska where their rental car rolled over after being hit by a semi-truck. Team Jensen and Team Messing reached the men’s final. Elsewhere, competition at the USA Curling Junior National Championships will continue through Saturday in Wayland, Mass.

EQUESTRIAN: Three-time Olympian Steffen Peters had a pair of third-place finishes in the World Dressage Masters Palm Beach in Wellington, Fla. Peters finished third on Legolas 92 in Saturday’s freestyle, one spot ahead of Heather Blitz on Paragon. Peters and Blitz were also third and fourth Friday in the WDM Nurnberger Grand Prix.

LUGE: The United States finished third in the team relay Friday at the Junior World Cup event in Calgary, Alberta. Summer Britcher and Tucker West handled the singles portion of the relay while Ty Anderson and Anthony Espinoza formed the doubles team. Britcher, West and Anderson were all part of the team that won a relay gold at the 2012 Youth Olympic Games.

WATER POLO: Jesse Smith scored three goals and Andy Stevens made nine saves as the United States defeated Argentina 14-8 in an exhibition match Saturday in Irvine, Calif.

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Tom Robinson is a freelance contributor for TeamUSA.org. Material from various news services and press releases from National Governing Bodies was used to compile this report. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.